Underground automatic parking system for vehicles

ABSTRACT

An underground automatic parking system for vehicles, comprising a horizontal tunnel; a rectangular entrance opening on the roof of said tunnel; slidable horizontal doors closing said opening; grids in said doors located at a position suitable to receive the four tires of a vehicle; a carriage movable along the length of said tunnel at an intermediate transit level thereof; the carriage is provided with anchoring means to coact with anchoring blocks provided on the tracks along which said carriage moves, in order to automatically stop the carriage in alignment with a selected parking space; elevator means in said carriage comprising two pairs of comb-like sets of parallel brackets rotatable about respective axes in a position such that the brackets match the position of the four tires of a vehicle, said brackets being such that, when the elevator means are elevated to its uppermost position, said brackets pass between the grids of said doors to support a vehicle located thereon; an upper parking level in said tunnel comprising a plurality of upper parking spaces each being provided with four sets of retractible vehicle supporting brackets, interleavable with the brackets of said elevator means, each set of vehicle supporting brackets being provided with a ratchet mechanism to retain the same in operative position; a lower parking level in said tunnel comprising a plurality of lower parking spaces each being provided with four vehicle supporting cradles, each cradle comprising a grid interleavable with the brackets of said elevator means; said intermediate transit level comprising a lower sub-level to allow the transit of the carriage with its elevator means carrying a vehicle thereon and an upper sub-level to allow the transit of the carriage with its elevator means empty; means for driving said carriage along the length of said tunnel; means for driving said elevator means between the transit level and the upper and lower parking levels and between the transit level and the entrance opening; means for extending and retracting said retractible vehicle supporting brackets of the upper parking level; means for retracting and extending the brackets of said elevator means, when the same are lowered to the lower parking level in order to clear a vehicle parked in a lower parking space; electric detecting means in each parking space to coact with the carriage in order to detect an empty parking space when the carriage is carrying a vehicle thereon; and means for deactivating said detecting means in order to allow the carriage to travel past an empty parking space when it is not desired to park a vehicle therein.

United States Patent [191 Obregon Jan. 22, 1974 1 1 UNDERGROUNDAUTOMATIC PARKING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES [76] Inventor: Alejandro Obregon,Horacio 543-403, Mexico City, Mexico [22] Filed: Aug. 9, 1972 [21] Appl.No.: 279,268

[ 30] Foreign Application Priority Data Primary ExaminerGerald M.Forlenza Assistant Examiner-R. B. Johnson Attorney, Agent, orFirmStevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57] ABSTRACT An undergroundautomatic parking system for vehicles, comprising a horizontal tunnel; arectangular entrance opening on the roof of said tunnel; slidablehorizontal doors closing said opening; grids in said doors located at aposition suitable to receive the four tires of a vehicle; a carriagemovable along the length of said tunnel at an intermediate transit levelthereof; the carriage is provided with anchoring means to coact withanchoring blocks provided on the tracks along which said carriage moves,in order to automatically stop the carriage in alignment with a selectedparking space; elevator means in said carriage comprising two pairs ofcomb-like sets of parallel brackets rotatable about respective axes in aposition such that the brackets match the position of the four tires ofa vehicle, said brackets being such that, when the elevator means areelevated to its uppermost position, said brackets pass between the gridsof said doors to support a vehicle located thereon; an upper parkinglevel in said tunnel comprising a plurality of upper parking spaces eachbeing provided with four sets of retractible vehicle supportingbrackets, interleavable with the brackets of said elevator means, eachset of vehicle supporting brackets being provided with a ratchetmechanism to retain the same in operative position; a lower parkinglevel in said tunnel comprising a plurality of lower parking spaces eachbeing provided with four vehicle supporting cradles, each cradlecomprising a grid interleavable with the brackets of said elevatormeans; said intermediate transit level comprising a lower sub-level toallow the transit of the carriage with its elevator means carrying avehicle thereon and an upper sub-level to allow the transit of thecarriage with its elevator means empty; means for driving said carriagealong the length of said tunnel; means for driving said elevator meansbetween the transit level and the upper and lower parking levels andbetween the transit level and the entrance opening; means for extendingand retracting said retractible vehicle supporting brackets of the upperparking level; means for retracting and extending the brackets of saidelevator means, when the same are lowered to the lower parking level inorder to clear a vehicle parked in a lower parking space; electricdetecting means in each parking space to coact with the carriage inorder to detect an empty parking space when the carriage is carrying avehicle thereon; and means for deactivating said de tecting means inorder to allow the carriage to travel past an empty parking space whenit is not desired to park a vehicle therein.

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UNDERGROUND AUTOMATIC PARKING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The present invention refers to a parking system for vehiclesand, more particularly, it is related to an underground automaticparking system for vehicles, which is quite unconspicuous and does notinterfere with the normal traffic on the streets.

It is a very well known fact all over the world that the parking ofvehicles in predetermined areas of large cities is a particularlydifficult problem, moreso when areas of great commercial activities areconsidered, because there is an extraordinary flow of vehicles into saidareas, which creates a very high traffic density which does not allowfor parking vehicles on the streets. On the other hand, the parkingsystems of the prior art have left much to desire and are absolutelyinefficient. In effect, when said systems merely comprise large lots ofland wherein the vehicles are accommodated in a completely disorganizedmanner, a numerous personnel is required to drive the vehicles andstatistics show that accidents and burglary are quite frequent in thistype of parking lots. Prior art parking systems consisting of buildingsof several floors wherein entrance and exit ramps are built for thetransit of vehicles are also quite disadvantageous in that the vehiclesare normally spoiled by the personnel in charge of said parkingbuildings when the vehicles are driven up and down the ramps. While insome parking buildings having several parking floors, elevator systemshave been provided, nevertheless the vehicles have to be driven by aperson whose ability is rather doubtful and who does not care too muchabout what may occur to the mechanisms of the vehicle when driving thesame.

Therefore, for long a solution has been sought to solve the problem oflack of fully automatic parking systems in which, once the owner of thevehicle applies for the services of the establishment, he can leave hisvehicle locked, as it will not be driven by the personnel in charge ofthe parking system.

On the other hand, the prior art parking buildings require a substantialarea of land and must be built where perhaps more profitable buildingscould be built instead.

The prior art has also provided underground parking systems, but thesemerely comprise a basement or the like, in which all the vehicles areplaced by drivers, also in a completely disorganized manner which doesnot solve the problem of parking vehicles in heavy traffic areas of acity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Having in mind the defects of the prior artparking systems, the present invention provides an under ground, fullyautomatic parking system for vehicles, which overcomes all thedisadvantages of the prior art parking systems and avoids the necessityof driving the vehicles within the parking space by uncapable personnel.

The present invention also provides an underground parking system forvehicles, of the above mentioned character, in which the vehicles areplaced in different parking spaces by mechanical means which are fullyautomatic and do not need the intervention of personnel to drive saidvehicles.

This invention also provides an underground parking system for vehicles,of the above described character, which in spite of being fullyautomatic, is very easy to build and very efficient to operate.

The present invention also provides an underground parking system forvehicles, of the above mentioned character, which provides for thesimultaneous operation of accommodating a vehicle in an empty parkingspace and taking a vehicle from an occupied parking space in the samevoyage of the carriage, in a time which is very short as compared to thetime normally involved in accommodating a vehicle in and taking anothervehicle from a parking place of any prior art parking system.

This invention also provides an underground parking system for vehicles,of the above mentioned characteristics, which is capable of a completelyunderground installation, in order to avoid interference with the normaltraffic on the streets or with the pedestrians walking on side-walks andon parks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The novel features which areconsidered characteristic of the present invention are set forth withparticularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however,both as to its organization and its method of operation, together withadditional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood fromthe following description of a specific embodiment, when read inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view, partially broken away toshowinner details, of the underground parking system built in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional elevational view of the underground parkingsystem in accordance with the invention, taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1and looking in the direction of the arrows; 7

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly borken away to showinner details, of the entrance section of the underground parking systembuilt in accordance with the invention, and showing the mechanism foroperating the doors;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional elevational view taken along lines 4-4 ofFIG. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a detailed elevational view of one of the supports on whichthe beam members of the system for operating the doors slide;

FIG. 6 is a detailed elevational view, partly in cross section, of oneof the supports on which the grid forming members of the doors slide;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are complementary elevational views, with parts brokenaway to show inner details, of the carriage of the underground parkingsystem built in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary enlarged elevational view, similar to FIG. 8,showing the anchoring means of the carriage, as well as the anchoractuating means;

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional elevational view taken along lines 11--l1of FIG. 10 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 12 is a cross sectional elevational view of the uppertire-supporting bracket system of the underground parking system of thepresent invention, taken along lines 12-12 of FIG. 15 and looking in thedirection of the arrows;

1. An underground automatic parking system for vehicles, which comprisesa horizontal tunnel, said tunnel being divided into an upper parkinglevel comprising a plurality of parking spaces, a lower parking levelcomprising a plurality of parking spaces and an intermediate transitlevel comprising a lower transit sublevel and an upper transitsub-level; automatic access means arranged on the roof of said tunnel; atrack in each one of the side walls of said tunnel and arranged alongthe length thereof; a carriage adapted to move on said tracks along saidtransit level; an elevator in said carriage, operable along hollowvertical columns carried by said carriage and extending all the heightof the tunnel, said elevator having simultaneously retractible vehicletire supporting brackets capable of being carried by said elevator up toa level slightly higher than the level occupied by said automatic accessmeans in order to release the latter so that the same can be operated togive access to a vehicle into the said tunnel, said automatic accessmeans being provided with complementary slits to allow passage of saidretractible brackets; means for moving said retractible brackets betweenand extended operative position and a retracted position; anchoringmeans for stopping the movement of said carriage along the tunnel ineach parking space thereof; vehicle tire supporting means in eachparking space of the upper parking level comprising a plurality ofsimultaneously extendible brackets; means in said elevator to force saidextendible brackets to move between a retracted position and an extendedsupporting position when said retractible brackets of the elevator arecarrying a vehicle in the ascending movement thereof and in order toretract said extendible brackets in the descending movement of theelevator when said extendible brackets support a vehicle; vehicle tiresupporting means in each parking space of the lower parking levelcomprising stationary cradles through which the elevator brackets canpass when the same support a vehicle; means arranged in the lowerparking level to retract the elevator brackets in the ascending movementthereof when they are not supporting a vehicle; means for retracting theelevator brackets in the descending movement toward the lower parkinglevel, when they are not supporting a vehicle; and electric sequenceprogramming means to sequentially effect all the necessary movements ofthe system.
 2. An underground automatic parking system according toclaim 1 wherein said automatic access means comprises a pair ofhorizontally slidable doors provided with a plurality of grids inpositions suitable to allow passage of the brackets of said elevator toa level slightly higher than the level thereof; rack and pinnion meansfor opening and closing said doors; and guiding channels to guide thetires of the vehicles to be parked in order to secure that the latterwill be placed accurately on the grids and will be lifted by saidelevator brackets to release the doors and allow the opening movementthereof to give access to the vehicle into the tunnel.
 3. An undergroundautomatic parking system according to claim 2 wherein said automaticaccess means also comprises a retractible banister which is acted uponby said rack and pinnion means to be retracted when the doors are closedand to be extended when the doors are open.
 4. An underground parkingsystem according to claim 1 wherein said carriage comprises a frame;motor means on said frame capable of driving said carriage along saidtracks in any of two opposite directions, said anchoring means beingattached to the side members of the frame and comprising a pair ofanchors each of which is shaped as a hook to be latched when movingalong a horizontal direction, one of said anchors being arranged withits hook end in a downstream position while the other anchor is arrangedin the opposite direction; and means to operate said anchors byreleasing the same to a suitable level which permits them to be latchedwith one of a plurality of anchoring blocks arranged along each one ofsaid tracks in positions suitable to accurately stop the carriage at oneof a plurality of said parking spaces, each of said anchors beingresiliently supported on said frame to be latched with said anchoringblocks with a shock absorbing motion, the arrangement being such thatthe anchor which hook end arrives in a downstream position to saidanchoring block will jump the same to be latched therewith in a backwarddirection while the other anchor will be directly latched with saidanchoring block upon its arrival thereto.
 5. An underground automaticparking system according to claim 4 wherein said means to operate saidanchors comprises an upper vertical member; a lower vertical membercolinearly arranged to said upper member and coupled therewith by meansof a lost motion articulated coupling which, when dislocated, is capableof releasing the lower member in order to latch the anchors on saidanchoring blocks and which, when colinearly arranged, is capable ofengaging said upper and lower members for integral movement thereof; atoggle pivotally attached to the upper end of said upper member; meansfor pulling said toggle to raise the upper member, located at said twotransit sub-levels, the upper sub-level corresponding to the movement ofthe carriage without a vehicle and the lower sub-level corresponding tothe movement of the carriage with a vehicle; means for dislocating saidlost motion articulated coupling in said upper sub-level when thecarriage is not carrying a vehicle and in said lower sub-level when thecarriage carries a vehicle; and means for maintaining said lost motionarticulated coupling in a dislocated position during the ascending anddescending movements of the elevator toward the upper and the lowertransit sub-levels respectively, in order to avoid the anchors to beunlatched from the respective anchoring block at the undesired transitsub-level.
 6. An underground automatic parking system according to claim5 wherein said lost motion articulated coupling comprises a first forkedelement at the upper end of said lower member, a second forked elementat the lower end of said upper member parallelly housed within saidfirst forked element; a guiding slit in said second forked element; abolt coupled to the upper end of said first forked element and slidablewithin said guiding slit; a first link articulated to said bolt; asecond link pivotally attached to the end of said second forked element,the free ends of both links being pivotally engaged to each other bymeans of a center pivot; and a pulling rod coupled to said center pivotarranged between said first and second links in order to move the samebetween a colinear position and an angular dislocated position inresponse to said dislocating means.
 7. An underground automatic parkingsystem according to claim 6 wherein said dislocating means comprises asolenoid electromagnetically coupled to the free end of said pulling rodin order to pull the same in opposition to resilient means which biassaid center pivot to a colinear link position.
 8. An undergroundautomatic parking system according to claim 7 wherein said means forpulling the toggle pivotally attached to the upper end of said uppermember of the anchor operating means comprises a rod coupled to atandem-type cam follower arranged to be actuated in two positionscorresponding to said upper and lower transit sub-levels; and a camarranged in said elevator in a position such that it actuates said camfollower at said two mentioned positions in order to pull the rod andunlatch the anchors from their respective anchoring block when saiddislocating means are not acting on said lost motion articulatedcoupling.
 9. An underground automatic parking system according to claim8 wherein said means for maintaining said lost motion articulatedcoupling in a dislocating position during the ascending and descendingmovements of the elevator from the lower parking level to the uppertransit sub-level and back in order to pass through the lower transitsub-level without unlatching the anchoring means from the correspondinganchoring block comprises a cam located in a position on saidretractible brackets of the elevator such that said cam can only actwhen the same are retracted; and a limit switch engageable by said camwhen said tandem-type cam follower is actuated by its cOrresponding cam,said limit switch being connected to said solenoid to energize the samewhen the cam acts thereupon.
 10. An underground automatic parking systemaccording to claim 9 wherein said plurality of retractible brackets ofthe elevator comprises a plurality of parallel brackets ganged on acommon axle to form a pair of retractible comb-like sets of brackets,which are normally extended and which support each longitudinal pair ofvehicle tires; a first bracket-retracting cam at each end of said commonaxle; a ratchet mechanism on the end of said first bracket-retractingcam in order to maintain the same in an operating position whereby thecomb-like sets of brackets will remain extended; a secondbracket-retracting cam at each end of said common axle, a first camoperating device to operate said first bracket-retracting cam, arrangedin the carriage at a level corresponding to the upper transit sub-level;and a second cam operating device to operate said first and secondbracket-retracting cams, arranged in said carriage at a levelcorresponding to the lower parking level.
 11. An underground automaticparking system according to claim 10 wherein said first cam operatingdevice comprises a roller-type cam follower capable of guiding saidfirst cam between extended and retracted positions; a spring capable ofpushing said follower and said cam when the associated comb-like sets ofbrackets of the elevator are not carrying the load of a vehicle, butwhich yields to the weight of said comb-like sets of the elevatorbrackets when the latter are carrying the load of a vehicle; and aratchet releasing lever resiliently supported on said carriage such thatit will be capable of releasing said ratchet mechanism of the firstbracket-retracting cam only when said cam has been displaced by saidroller-type cam follower.
 12. An underground automatic parking systemaccording to claim 10 wherein said second cam operating device comprisesa plurality of suitably arranged stationary rollers attached to saidcarriage and capable of guiding said second bracket-retracting cambetween extended and retracted positions; a rocking lever pivotallyengaged to the lower end of each column of the elevator; a vertical pinon one of the ends of said rocking lever, the upper end of said pinbeing coupled to said first bracket-retracting cam; a yieldable verticalshank at the other end of said rocking lever, the upper end of saidshank being coupled to the pawl of the ratchet of said firstbracket-retracting cam, said yieldable shank being operated by a springwhich will yield when the elevator brackets are carrying the load of avehicle, but which will not yield when said elevator brackets are notcarrying the load of a vehicle, whereby the ratchet will be releasedpermitting the second bracket-retracting cam to be guided on saidplurality of stationary rollers toward the bracket retracted position.13. An underground automatic parking system according to claim 11wherein said means for maintaining said lost motion articulated couplingin a dislocated position during the descending and ascending movementsof the elevator from the upper parking level to the lower transitsub-level and viceversa in order to clear the upper transit sub-levelwithout allowing the anchoring means to be unlatched from thecorresponding anchoring block comprises a limit switch actuatable bysaid first bracket-retracting cam only when the latter is pushed againstsaid roller-type cam follower by the weight of a vehicle, said limitswitch being in circuit with said solenoid to energize the same whensaid cam is engaged therewith.
 14. An underground automatic parkingsystem according to claim 10 wherein said means in the elevator forextending and retracting said extendible brackets of the upper parkinglevel comprises a cam follower in at least one of said brackets, a camin at least a corresponding one of the retractible brackets of theelevator, said cam being engageable by said cam follower to move saidextendible brackets between a retracted position and an extendedposition; a ratchet mechanism for maintaining said extendible bracketsin its extended position; and means for releasing said ratchet mechanismonly when said extendible brackets do not support the load of a vehicle.15. An underground automatic parking system according to claim 1 whereinsaid elevator comprises a plurality of vertical hollow columnsintegrally built in said carriage; a corresponding plurality of verticalslides movable along said columns and coupled to a respective one of thecommon axles of said retractible brackets of the elevator; motor meansfor driving said slides up and down said columns; and shock absorbers atthe ends of said columns to avoid shocks of said slides.
 16. Anunderground automatic parking system according to claim 14 wherein saidmeans for releasing the ratchet mechanism of said extendible brackets torelease the same and allow them to move toward its retracted positionwhen not supporting the load of a vehicle comprises a vertical yieldablepusher in at least one of said elevator brackets; and a ratchetreleasing arm integrally provided on the pawl of said ratchet mechanismand arranged in a vertical colinear position to said yieldable verticalpusher, said vertical pusher being actuated by a spring which yieldswhen said extendible brackets are carrying the load of a vehicle, butwhich actuates said arm when said extendible brackets are not carryingthe load of a vehicle in order to release the pawl of the ratchetmechanism.
 17. An underground automatic parking system according toclaim 1 wherein said electric sequence programming means comprisesmanually operable control means to select one of respective right andleft sections of the upper and lower parking levels; means for detectingany empty parking space in each of said sections; means for detecting apredetermined parking space previously occupied by a desired vehicle;means for stopping the motor of the elevator at the desired transitsub-level and to simultaneously start the motor of the carriage andviceversa; means for reversing the movement of the elevator in the upperand lower parking levels; means for reversing the movement of thecarriage in the parking spaces and in the access means; means forchanging the speed of the carriage depending on the distance which saidcarriage must travel; and safety means for stopping the whole systemwhen any of the different elements thereof fails.
 18. An undergroundautomatic parking system according to claim 17 wherein said means fordetecting an empty parking space comprises a lower set of stationarycontacts and an upper set of stationary contacts both arranged along thetunnel; and at least a sliding contactor means in said carriage to closea circuit with one of said contacts of any of the two sets, therebysending a signal to a master control which stops the motion of the motormeans of the carriage in advance of the place where the anchoring meansare to be latched with the respective anchoring block, and anothersignal which energizes the said dislocating means of the anchoringmeans.
 19. An underground automatic parking system according to claim 18wherein said contacts of the lower set are energized only when theycorrespond to an empty parking space by means of limit switchesassociated with the supporting cradles of the lower parking level, saidcradles being mounted on spring means which space them from the floorbut which are forced to yield by the weight of a parked vehicle toactuate said limit switches and deenergizE said contacts.
 20. Anunderground automatic parking system according to claim 18 wherein saidcontacts of the upper set are energized only when they correspond to anempty parking space by means of limit switches associated with theextendible brackets of the upper parking level, said limit switchesbeing actuated only when said brackets are retracted to correspondinglyenergize said contacts.
 21. An underground automAtic parking systemaccording to claim 18 wherein a further set of intermediate contacts isprovided along said tunnel and at least a further sliding contactordevice is provided in said carriage to close a circuit with one of saidcontacts, said further series of contacts being interconnectable withsaid lower and upper sets of contacts, to jointly actuate in order todetect a preselected parking space so as to directly send the carriageto said parking space upon a command from the master control, saidinterconnection being capable of simultaneously deenergizing the lowerand upper sets of contacts which detect an empty parking space.
 22. Anunderground automatic parking system according to claim 17 wherein saidmeans for stopping the motor means of the elevator and starting themotor means of the carriage comprises at least a limit switch actuatedby said anchoring means when the latter are unlatched from itscorresponding anchoring block, in order to send a signal which stopssaid motor means of the elevator and starts said motor means of thecarriage, both said motor means being provided with brake means whichare energized and deenergized by the same signal.
 23. An undergroundautomatic parking system according to claim 18 wherein at least afurther sliding contactor device is provided in the carriage in anadvanced position with respect to the direction of motion of saidcarriage, to be electrically coupled with one of said stationarycontacts of said upper and lower sets in order to send said signal tostop the motor means of the carriage sufficiently in advance of theplace where the anchoring means are to be latched to the correspondinganchoring block, when said carriage is operating at its highest speed.